Bills Today: McDermott focused on opponent, not homecoming

Leslie Frazier knows what Sean McDermott is dealing with heading back to place he previously coached this Sunday and Shaq Lawson tops against the run?

Here’s the Bills news of note for Sept. 13th.

1 - McDermott focused on opponent, not homecomingWith Week One in the rear view mirror the focus now shifts to the Bills’ next opponent. Sean McDermott has chalked up his first win as a head coach. Now heading into Week Two his mind is locked on getting the team’s second win, and not his homecoming with the Carolina Panthers.

“Yeah, I acknowledge that they’re the next opponent, they’re certainly a good opponent. We respect the heck out of every opponent, and Carolina has a talented, talented football team. I really appreciate the time that I spent there, great people around that organization, and it’ll be a huge challenge for us to go down there, it’s their home opener. But I also know the work we have to put in this week, so that’s where my focus really is right now,” McDermott said.

Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier, who had a similar type homecoming as an NFL head coach admits it’s not always easy to push feelings from past working relationships to the side.

“There are a lot of emotions, for sure,” Frazier said. “He’s got a lot of friends there, a lot of former workers, a lot of his former players, guys he helped coach and develop that are going to be on that other sideline. I think as the week goes on, it becomes less and less of the fact that it’s your former team. It becomes more about, this is the next team on our schedule, and your focus shifts a little bit.

“There will be some emotions, there have to be, for the number of years he spent there, the relationships that were built, and the success that they had as a team. They went to the Super Bowl, and he was a part of that, so there’s an emotional component. At the end of the day, he’s leading the Buffalo Bills football team, and he’ll be focused on getting our team ready to play.”

It’s not only a homecoming for McDermott, but for General Manager Brandon Beane as well. McDermott spent six seasons in Carolina as their defensive coordinator, where he developed a top-10 defense in four of his six seasons in charge. Beane had a much longer tenure with the Panthers; his stint with the organization was 19-years.

“We both certainly learned a lot from our time in Carolina, Brandon was there a lot longer than I was,” McDermott said. “I learned a lot from my staff, most of whom are still there. The players, I learned a lot from the players. It’s a great organization, they do things the right way, they’ve won a ton of games, and they have a very, very talented football team… a lot of respect for what they do and how they do things.”

Sunday will be their first game at Bank of America Stadium under their new positions; they’ll try and advance to 2-0 to stay atop the AFC East.

2 - Poyer discusses his timing on big playsEntering his fifth-year in the NFL, Jordan Poyer had a phenomenal start to the new campaign. Poyer comes to Buffalo in 2017 after playing three seasons with the Cleveland Browns. On Sunday he recorded a sack and inception, the first time achieving that in his professional career. He discussed those plays on Kiss 98.5 this week.

“That was a rush like no other,” Poyer said on his interception. “It was just a fun day, you get 11 guys on the defensive side of the ball doing their job, like you heard Jerry Hughes getting pressure on the quarterback was able to force a bad throw and I was able to be there to make the play. It’s fun, guys like that up front doing their job it makes your job a whole lot easier in the back end. It’s really exciting, all credit goes to them I was just kind of in the right place at the right time.”

Poyer was familiar with Josh McCown from their time in Cleveland. They often sat next to each other on flights. He discussed the play where he took down his former teammate.

“I played with Josh [McCown] for almost three years in Cleveland… it was a great play call by coach [Leslie] Frazier. I was able to read my keys and fortunately came free off the edge. Josh held onto the ball a little bit and I was able to make a play when it happened. It felt good, first sack in the stadium. It felt good, it felt good to get the win that was the biggest thing,” Poyer said.

The 6-0, 191-pound safety along with the rest of the Bills should have a tougher task in Week Two against the 1-0 Carolina Panthers and Cam Newton.

3 - Lawson highest edge rusher against the runThe Bills first-round pick in the 2016 draft, Shaq Lawson, had the highest run stop percentage among edge defenders in Week One, according to ProFootballFocus.

Lawson sat atop the league at 27.3 percent, while Everson Griffen and Cornelius Washington rounded out the top-three. The 6-3, 267-pound product out of Clemson University tallied three tackles in the game Sunday against the New York Jets. His efforts on the edge solidified a strong run defense for the Bills.

Buffalo’s defense never allowed the Jets running game to get started. New York only scraped together 2.5 yards per carry and 38 rushing yards in the game.

With head coach Sean McDermott and defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier returning to a 4-3 defense it’s going good thus far for Lawson.

SOCIAL MEDIA POST OF THE DAY

The Bills and Campbell's have teamed up once again to help the Food Bank of WNY.